Wednesday, June 8, 2016

I was awakened last night by our first thunderstorm. There was plenty of fast paced lightening and thunder, one crack that had me nearly jump out of bed. The sound of the rain relaxed me, as I knew how much work that would save me the following day.

With less work to do today on the yard, I headed out with my camera. I had been worried about the low number of bees I was seeing, but yesterday I noticed that the numbers have increased dramatically. They are everywhere and are of every shape and size. Some are so big, they could be mistaken for hummingbirds. I love the bees, and am so glad to see them back in such numbers.

The threat of their extinction makes me feel incredibly sad, as I cannot imagine a garden without them. Nor, apparently, would us humans be able to survive without them as they are responsible for pollinating so many of the crops we depend on. Science is working hard at solving this problem and I hope they can find a solution, In the meantime, I will continue to do my part in saving the population by planting plenty of flowers and allowing ( a reasonable) amount of weeds to bloom.

I love the amber color of the wings on this hard-working little guy.

I love this row of trees even more now that my husband is at home full time to help me maintain them. My arms are numb by the time I'm done trimming around all their bases.

The beautiful irises are all in full bloom.

Here is a view of the south part of my yard. You can see the corner of one of my two vegetable gardens on the right hand side. My dog, Bear lies in the shade here for hours while I piddle away in the dirt.

I was certain this shot would be nice in black and white, and I love it!

Monday, June 6, 2016

All of these photos were taken 2 weeks ago, which doesn't seem all that long ago when put that way. But, when I take a look around my yard, it seems like ages ago. Seasons are miraculous in how quickly they can transform the scenery.

The lilacs pictured here are done and there is a haze of brown where there were hundreds of vibrant lavender colored blooms that stood out from across the yard.

The sea of yellow has diminished into just a few blooms here and there. In numbers like that, dandelions are beautiful.

I thought I would toss in another photo of a napping kitty, just because they are so charming when asleep.

And the last photo (the "Something Different), is an attempt at blurred motion photography. I really don't know what I think of this one yet, but it was definitely my favourite of the dozen I took. I'll have to come back to it in a month or two, comparing it to nothing else. I do like the colors though.